After the End
by Mikowmer
Summary: Hiccup is worn out. He's been trying to be a good chief for Berk after his father, but other the other chiefs aren't exactly helping. So, Hiccup and Toothless decide to take a break, and journey around the Archipelago one last time. In the process, they discover something, or rather, someone, frozen for over 300 years, who holds the knowledge to stop a threat from another era.
1. The Summit

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own the rights to How To Train Your Dragon. Those belong to Dreamworks Animation and Cressida Cowell.

* * *

Hiccup groaned as he stumbled into his home, followed closely by Toothless with a similar groan of his own. Astrid looked up from where she was by the fire, holding a block of ice to her head.  
"You two as well, huh?" she asked, as the chief went to the ice chest to retrieve the relief to his pounding headache.

After grabbing three blocks (two for him, and one for Toothless), he sat down beside Astrid before listing off the days mishaps, with both ice blocks held to his head, which greatly limited his gestures

"First, the chiefs here for the summit decide to meet without me, despite Berk being the host, then they decided that it would be a good idea to terrorise a terror that was lying around, for whatever reason. Then the terror called over his friends to get revenge, and proceeded to destroy everything between them and the chiefs, including the storm door." Astrid raised an eyebrow. "What? Even I didn't believe it! Anyway, I then had to tell the chiefs that it is common dragon knowledge that provoking a Terror is a bad idea, because they call on other terrors to retaliate, while Toothless here had to round up every single terror, and tell them off for causing so much collateral damage, hence the ice block for him as well." Hiccup sighed. "Then the chiefs decided they wanted to cut the summit short by a day, and so they will all be leaving either tomorrow, or the day after." His voice started rising. "We haven't even got through half the items on the agenda, and they already want to leave!" Hiccup slumped back into his seat, feeling defeated. Turning to Astrid, he asked, "So, what caused your one brick headache, milady?"

Astrid sighed as she collected her thoughts. "Well, you know how I was handling the Dragon Training side of the summit?" Hiccup nodded. "Well, to them, the only way to get a dragon to do what you want them to do... is to _YELL_ at it!" Hiccup's eyes nearly popped out of his head, as he dropped both of ice blocks. At the same time, Toothless lifted his head up in surprise, causing the ice block precariously balanced on his head to fall to the floor, while his jaw hung open slightly, making the night fury look very stupid. Astrid continued. "While they were demonstrating the effectiveness of their 'technique' - it wasn't - they managed to scare off not only their own dragons, but also every single dragon near the arena!"

"That bad, huh?"

"So that had me scolding them for their stupidity and their stubbornness, Snotlout on fire thanks to Hookfang, Ruff and Tuff laughing at the mayhem while not doing a thing to stop it, while Fishlegs and your mum rounded up and calmed down every. Single. Dragon."

"Huh, no wonder mum was in a bad mood when I walked past her this afternoon."

Astrid laughed. "Yeah, you should have seen the glare she gave the young girl from the Bog Burglars after she thought it was funny to have her changewing hide behind Fishlegs. At least she wasn't yelling at her dragon like the others were. And the changewing seemed to get a laugh out of it as well; those two are perfect for each other."

Hiccup chuckled at the thought of Fishlegs getting surprised by a changewing, headache and ice blocks forgotten.

"So, should we head up to the Great Hall to get something to eat?" suggested Hiccup, holding out a hand to Astrid, who took it gladly, setting down her ice block by her chair.

"Sure. I'm so hungry, I could eat a yak. Training others really takes it out of you. How _did_ you manage it back when we first started the academy?"

Turning to Toothless, Hiccup said "I have no idea. Toothless, you coming... bud?" His voice trailed off.

After Toothless had gotten over the fact that dragons were being yelled at, he had tried to get the ice block back on his head by pushing it up against the wall of the house. However, he had pushed too hard, and was now staring at a small, ice block sized hole in the wall, wondering how that could have happened.

"Uh... Let's just go, shall we?" Hiccup suggested, and the two humans left the bewildered night fury wondering where this hole that had just stolen his ice block had come from.

* * *

"Why did I ever suggest having the summit here?"

Hiccup was back to needing the relief that only an ice block could provide for another headache.

"Maybe because you wanted to prove to them that you could be a great chief like your father," replied Valka, who had followed her son home after he had stormed out of the Great Hall in a rage. "There's nothing wrong in trying, but I heard that constantly trying to prove yourself is what destroyed the village however many times before you met Toothless, and then a few more times afterwards."

Hiccup sighed. "And for some reason I feel almost exactly the same way now as I did then. Why won't they listen?"

Valka laid a hand on her boy's shoulder. "They just haven't seen you tested in battle yet, or how well you can manage the village."

Hiccup exploded. "Can't they see the damage caused that still remains behind after Drago's attack, and how well we are recovering?! That proves that I've been in battle and emerged from the other side intact, and have so far helped the village to prosper in the wake of the attack. It's almost as if they still see me as a runt, because I'm lean and muscular instead of big and beefy. They still see me as a fish bone!"

"That may be, but Stoic had similar problems when he first became chief." This cooled Hiccup down a little.

"Really? Dad, who was said to have ripped a Nadder's head of as a baby?"

"Yes, really," Valka replied. "Although I hadn't heard about that rumour until after I had left Berk..." Valka paused for a bit. "Oh, the tall tales you hear about great people."

Hiccup was amazed. "Wow... no wonder he was trying so hard to teach me how to be a good chief. He wanted to make sure I would be able to handle them."

"And do you want to know what he did straight after his first summit?"

"He found a good ice merchant and bought a lifetime's supply of ice?" Hiccup snarked, which caused Valka to chuckle.

"No, no. He sailed off for a month. On his own. By the time he got back, he had more confidence, and by the next summit, he had earned the respect of enough of the other chiefs to have a say in things." Valka paused for a bit. "Unfortunately, that year was the year Drago attacked the summit. Only Stoic got out alive."

Hiccup was confused. "So if I go on a journey, then I'll be a better chief?"

"Something like that," Valka replied.

"So... what should I do?"

"Well, the summit ends tomorrow, so why don't you take a break from chiefing for a bit? Go for a week long journey with Toothless. He needs a break as well." They turned to Toothless, who was now sitting next to a hole in the wall with pleading eyes. Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

"Alright, one week. And I want Berk to be in one piece when I get back." Then another voice spoke up.

"Good, you need the rest," said Astrid, walking in through the still open door. "Your mum and I will be able to handle things while your away."

"Rea-"

"YES!" Both Valka and Astrid shouted at the same time, before the two burst into giggles over how similar their reactions were.

"Berk will be fine without you for a week," Astrid said. "Just let yourself relax. You know you need it."

Hiccup held his hands up in defeat, and started towards the stairs leading up to his room. "Fine, fine, I'll even pack right now if you want."

As he got to the bottom of the stairs, Toothless finally moved from his spot, and immediately started pushing Hiccup up the stairs. The only thing that could be heard over Hiccups protests was Astrid and Valka, laughing at the young chief's expense, who was trying to calm down a suddenly very boisterous night fury.

* * *

_Elsewhere_

_*Signal Received*_

_*Boot Sequence Initiated*_

_*Booting*_

_*Booting.*_

_*Booting..*_

_*Booting...*_

_*Checking for Updates*_

**_ERROR: UNABLE TO CONNECT TO UPDATE SERVER_**

**_ABORTING UPDATE_**

_*Booting*_

_*Booting.*_

_*Booting..*_

_*Booting...*_

_*Initialising Security Protocols*_

Date/Time: 2520-6-5 06:22.03

_*Login Request Received*_

**/I.D.**: johnson.c

**/Password**: ********

_*Login Successful*_

_*Sending Message to johnson.c:_ 12345678 is not a secure password_*_

_*Message ignored: Adding to list ignored-msg-johnson.c (1246 entries)*_

_*Request for server access recieved: Processing*_

_*Processing..*_

_*Access Granted*_

**\\ CRYOSTASIS STATUS  
|| Cryotube STATUS  
|| **Cr1: Disconnected**  
|| **Cr2: _Damage Detected_**  
|| **Cr3: Disconnected**  
|| **Cr4: Disconnected**  
|| **Cr5: _Inactive_**  
|| **Cr6: _ERROR_**  
|| **Cr7: _Active_**  
|| **Cr8: Disconnected**  
|| **Cr9: Disconnected**  
|| **Cr10: _Damage Detected_**  
\\ END STATUS REPORT**

**\\ CRYOSTASIS ID FILE  
|| Cryotube PERSONNEL ID  
|| **Cr1: N/A**  
|| **Cr2: weaver.s**  
|| **Cr3: N/A**  
|| **Cr4: N/A**  
|| **Cr5: _EMPTY_**  
|| **Cr6: _ERROR_**  
|| **Cr7: jones.n**  
|| **Cr8: N/A**  
|| **Cr9: N/A**  
|| **Cr10: ripley.e**  
\\ END STATUS REPORT**

_*Remote Cryotube Access Requested: Cr7*_

_*Access Granted*_

_**/_Cr7/**Access Cryo Controls  
**/_Cr7/**Initiate Defrost Process  
_

**_ERROR: Defrost Process can only be processed from Cr7 Terminal_**

_*Log Out Request Received*  
_

_*johnson.c Logged Out*_

_*0 Users logged in*_

_*Sending Message to henson.d:_ Attempt to defrost jones.n received from johnson.c. Please advise.*

_*Message Received from henson.d: _Ignore. Shut Down.*

_*Ignoring*_

_*Shutting Down Server*_

_..._

* * *

**A/N:** Well... I've been on FanFiction for a while now, and haven't written anything to post yet. And I was going through the Wild Mass Guessing part of the How to Train Your Dragon page on TV Tropes, when I saw one that suggested that HtTYD was actually after the end...

And this is where my mind led me.

I'm trying to take my time with this, and I'll be doing this in the middle of exams... and exams... and more VERY IMPORTANT EXAMS! So updates on this might be a little bit sporadic, at least until mid-November.

This is also being mirrored on my DeviantArt account, natrat2006.

Please review, follow, usual spiel that other authors do.

I hope you enjoy!

Mikowmer


	2. The Trip

"Hey, there's Itchy Armpit! That would be a good stop for the night."  
Toothless crooned in agreement, wings sore from all of the flying they had done over the first two days of their week long holiday. Hiccup, while not doing any of the actual flying, still had sore muscles, mainly in his legs and lower back.

The previous day they had dropped by Dragon Island, before heading over to Outcast Island to say hello to Alvin the Not-So-Treacherous-Any-More. After staying there for the night (and returning a changewing egg to Changewing Island after an Outcast confused it for a Stone of Good Fortune), the pair had flown south-east, hoping to extend their map a little (read: a lot).

According to Valka, there were some interesting islands in this direction. And this led the pair back to the place they first heard of Drago Bludvist, and hopefully, this time, they wouldn't encounter earth-shattering news of a threat that would endanger Berk.

After settling down, and removing Toothless' saddle, Hiccup went off to gather some firewood while his dragon got settled. By the time Hiccup got back, it was late afternoon, and Toothless was lazing around in the sun. After setting up the firewood, Hiccup woke Toothless for dinner. Earlier that day, they had found a large school of fish just below the surface of the water. One blast from Toothless was enough to kill or stun enough fish for their meal.

Normally, it was very dangerous to wake a sleeping dragon. However, the sound of still wet fish being emptied from a basket was a very quick, easy, and safe method of waking a hungry dragon. Case in point: Toothless immediately woke up and attacked the fish, leaving a chuckling Hiccup to quickly grab a fish for himself, and only earning an annoyed growl in repatriation. The two friends then sat in companionable silence, Hiccup roasting his fish, while Toothless gulped down his, until he lifted his head and growled threateningly, and pulled his fish in closer

"What is it, bud?" Hiccup asked, before looking up and seeing a lone terror flying in. "Oh, you're just being greedy again." This earnt Hiccup a tail to the head and a glare from his dragon. "Oh, come on. You know it's true!" Hiccup learnt after the second tail whack.

However, Toothles needn't have worried, as when the terror landed, it ran straight towards Hiccup.

"Hey, he's got a message from Astrid." Opening the roll of paper, Hiccup found a report detailing the events of the last two days.

"Toothless, listen to this: Snotlout tried another of his get rich quick schemes, but this time it literally blew up in his face. Apparently, the twins discovered his new 'drink' was as explosive as Zippleback gas, and blew it all up during his demonstration!"

Toothless just rolled his eyes. The twins were still looking for destruction, and some of their new stunts were so destructive, that they now rivalled Hiccup in his destructive phase. Fortunately, Barf and Belch usually kept them under control. When they weren't a part of it, of course.

"Oh, and Bucket's bucket is getting a little tighter, so we probably have a storm coming in the next day or two." He paused for a moment. "Better write back and say this will slow us down a little. I'm sure Astrid will love that."

By the time he had written the note, given the terror a fish (Toothless was not happy about that) and sending it off with the reply, Hiccup's fish was ready, and so the pair returned to their silence, but now with the sounds of both human and dragon having their fill

* * *

The next day, they flew further south-east, eventually getting to the white bewilderbeast's old nest. The former Alpha's corpse still lay on the shore, where he had fallen in battle. Both Hiccup and Toothless bowed their heads in respect as they flew past, before continuing on. It was only midday, and they wanted to reach the next island before the sun went down.

As the afternoon wore on, the wind started to pick up, upsetting Toothless flight a little.

"You okay, bud?" asked Hiccup. Toothless replied with a grumble and a shake of his head, prompting Hiccup to look back. On the horizon, massive storm clouds were brewing, and they still had at least another half hour to go at their current pace before they reached the next island.

"We better hurry up, Toothless. That storm isn't going to wait." Toothless crooned in agreement and put on a burst of speed, aided by the increasing wind speeds.

15 minutes later, the storm was upon them. Fortunately, they had just reached the island and were now in the process of finding a cave to hole up in while the storm blew over. Spotting one hidden under a rocky outcrop on a cliff on the leeward side of the island, Toothless flew up to it, and almost got blown into the cliff by a sudden gust of wind. Fortunately, he recovered, and managed to land inside the cave. Happy with the near miss, Toothless looked up to his rider with a happy croon. Hiccup, on the other hand, was less than impressed.

"That was too close, with both the storm and the cave," he said, as he climbed off Toothless, and started to remove the saddle. Toothless merely grumbled, waiting patiently for the saddle to come off. "What?" Hiccup asked after he had removed it. "You mean to tell me that you had it all under control?"

Toothless merely heated up a spot underneath him, raised his head in a _very_ arrogant manner, before flopping down on the heated floor of the cave.

Hiccup just checkled as he took off his own flight gear and sat down beside him to sleep out the storm. But what the pair didn't know was that they were being watched.

* * *

"Hey! Chris!"  
"WHAAT!? I was trying to sleep!"  
"Sorry, but there's movement on one of the cameras."  
"Probably just an animal, now let me sleep."  
"Yeah, you're probably right. Never hurts to check thou-"

"Um, Brad? You okay there, mate?"  
"Uh, Chris? I think you really need to see this."  
"What is i-"  
"You're seeing what I'm seeing... right?"  
"If what you're seeing is a soaking wet man sitting next to a Draco Nox, then yes. Yes, I am."  
"I think we just found a way to get Nathan out of there."  
"I think you might be right. Let's see how much control we have over the doors."  
"You mean you only checked whether you could control the cryotubes?"  
"You do realise that _he_ probably has a sub-routine installed in the server that detects any and all access to the servers, right?"  
"I never thought of that..."  
"Of course you wouldn't, you're only a scientist. I'm the IT guy, and Nathan's the pilot."  
"Yeah, well, you gonna do something Mr 'I'm the IT guy'?"  
"Yeah, just give me a while."

_15 hours later_

"I've got control!"  
"You do!?"  
"Yeah, but we've got to work quick, we don't want _him_ finding out too soon."  
"Then hurry up and get it done!"  
"Fine, I'm working on it. Door opening in 3... 2..."

* * *

It was a little bit steamy in the cave, seeing as though it was very damp, and Toothless had warmed up the floor of the cave quite a bit. But at least it was warm enough to be comfortable for the night, and both dragon and rider were taking advantage of that to get some sleep while the storm blew over. However, that sleep would be rudely interrupted by a metallic grating.

Toothless was the first to be awoken by the noise, and immediately took a defensive position over hiccup, only to have his jaw drop and eyes widen at the sight before him. Hiccup, having been woken by Toothless' sudden movement and still half asleep, took a bit longer to process everything.

"What is it, bud?" Hiccup managed to groan out, before he woke up fully and looked to where Toothless was staring.

"Huh?"

Thanks to the early morning light of the sun shining straight into the cave, Hiccup could see the wall of the cave splitting in two and opening, revealing a short corridor hewn into the rock with a metal walkway. Hiccup was left speechless as he moved out from underneath Toothless and stood up, still staring at the hallway that had just appeared.  
They stood like that for a few minutes, before, predictably, Hiccup said, "Come one, bud. Let's check it out," and started walking toward the opening. Toothless kept staring for a few seconds before realising that his rider was about to walk into this strange cave without his gear on, and quickly ran in front of Hiccup to force him back to where the flight suit had dried.

"Alright, fine, I'll put my gear on," Hiccup complained, although with a smile, for once glad that his dragon wasn't as forgetful as he was. Having suited up, He and Toothless entered the extended cave, lighting Inferno as he rounded the first corner, and stopping dead in his tracks.

"Oh, no..."

* * *

**AN:** Hello again!

I haven't gotten any reviews... Oh well, just means I don't know how well I'm doing. To my 2 followers, thank you for following, and hopefully you enjoy the story. Set up for the plot is nearly done, so that should start moving by the next chapter, and with that, it will get MUCH DARKER! And probably a little bit sci-fi-y if you haven't already figured out from all of the talk of computers and I.T. so... yeah.

Please Review, and this time I mean it. I am normally very bad when it comes to OC's, so could you please let me know over the next few chapters when I introduce an extremely plot relevant OC whether or not s/he is straying into Mary Sue or Marty Stu territory?

And thank you to those who took the time to read this, it means a lot.

Mikowmer


	3. The Cave

"Oh, no..."

On the floor in front of Hiccup were at least 10 skeletons, most of them dragons. There were places on the skeletons where it looked like a small object had smashed through the bones, sometimes smashing clean through the skull. On the walls there were burn marks, focused mainly on small holes in the wall with small, hollow metal sticks pointing out. On the other side of the room, there was a small door with a human skeleton slumped against it, the skull in pieces on the floor.

Toothless took one sniff of one of the dead dragons, and immediately started growling, eyes turning to slits.

"Yeah, I don't like this place either. Let's get out of here," said Hiccup, turning around to leave.

* * *

"They're leaving."  
"They're leaving?"  
"That's what I said."  
"Why?"  
"It's _that_ entrance..."  
"Oh, I don't blame them for turning around then."  
"But don't we need them to get Nathan out?"

"Yeah, you're right. I'll close the door. After they get past the killroom, then there shouldn't be too much more damage."

* * *

Hiccup didn't get much further than five steps before the door slammed closed in front of him. He stopped in his tracks, and nearly had Toothless knock him over as he skidded to a stop. Hiccup would have been annoyed, had he not been trapped in a cave with a long dead human and several long dead dragons.

"So... what do we do now?" Hiccup asked. Toothless marched back a few steps, and gestured for Hiccup to get behind him. Hiccup went one step further, hiding behind the corner, and Toothless released the biggest plasma blast he could.

After Hiccup stopped cowering behind Toothless, he saw what was left of the door. There was only one thing he could do.

He facepalmed.

* * *

"Oh no..."  
"Damn it, I just lost control of the door."  
"I, uh... I think I know why."  
"Yeah, and why might that be?"  
"Because there is no more door."  
"Don't tell me the just-"  
"They did. They tried to blow up the door."  
"And now, I not only have to guide them through the facility to the cryo-rooms, I now have to find them a new exit as well."  
"Well, maybe you should get started, because I think they're about to try to find their own way out."

* * *

Hiccup couldn't believe it. Toothless had just blown up not only the door, but the doorway as well. Toothless couldn't believe it either, and so he stared at the cave in that had fortunately only fallen over the door, and not where he and Hiccup were standing. They just stood there, dumbstruck, for about a minute before Hiccup regained his wits.

"You were only supposed to blow the door off! Now what are we supposed to do?" Toothless closed his gaping jaw, glanced at Hiccup, and walked around the corner.

"Where do you think you're going?" All Hiccup got in reply was a growl, and the sound of a (much smaller, thankfully) plasma blast, before Toothless poked his head around the corner with a croon and a 'come here' gesture, before disappearing around the corner again. Hiccup followed, and found a no longer intact door, with a still intact doorway, next to which Toothless sat with a smug expression on his face.

"I guess this is the only way we can go now," Hiccup said with a sigh. "Let's get out of here. These skeletons are creepy."

And with that, the pair ventured into the dark labyrinth, the way lit by Inferno, and Hiccup's leg making a metallic clink on the metal floor.

* * *

**AN:** Yes, I know this is significantly shorter than the other two chapters, and yes, it has been a while since I updated, but don't worry! In the next chapter, things will start being put together, AND it should be about 1.5-2 thousand words, rather than this chapter's very tiny amount of 603 words. Seriously, my AN is 210 words long.

Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW! I've gotten 286 views total, 3 favourites, and 5 followers, but still NO REVIEWS! Please, I'm scared I'm sending Hiccup and Toothless Out of Character, AND I don't want my OC's to devolve into Marty Stu's and Mary Sue's. A little bit of constructive criticism will be great. If your simply going to say "Update Sooner" or similar, I just got to school holiday's, so I should update more regularly for at least the next two weeks, before I get ready for my final exams for not just the year, but high school as well, so I may place this story on hiatus for that period.

Anyway, please review, and I should update again by Tuesday.


End file.
